Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/557
The authors of the Pharmacographia Indica (III. 509), speaking of C. Bengalensis, Linn, write :—"This and several other species of Commelina are included under the Sanskrit name Kanchata * * * The stems, roots and seeds which contain much mucilage and starch are used on account of their demulcent properties.
1292. C. suffruticosa, Blume., h.f.b.i., vi, 374.
Vern. : — Dare orsa (Santal).
Habitat: — Tropical India, from Nepal, Sikkim and Bengal to Central India.
An annual branching herb, usually slender and creeping below. Stems stout, branched, nearly glabrous. Leaves 3-14in. by ¾-2in., acuminate, sessile, lanceolate, scabridly pubescent ; sheaths auricled. Spathes ⅓-½in. long and broad, small, shortly peduncled, broadly ovate, cordate between, cucullate and complicate, panicled or clustered, acute or obtuse, villous. Raceme simple, 6-12-fid. Petals white or blue. Seeds straw-coloured, puberulous, ellipsoid, rugose. Capsules 2-celled.
Use :— The root is applied by Santals to sores. (Campbell.)
1293. Aneilema scapiflorum, Wight, h.f.b.i., vi, 375.
Syn. :— Commelina scapiflora, Roxb. 59.
Vern. : — Siyâh mûsli (Hind.) ; Kureli (B.) ; Sis-muliá (Guj.).
Habitat : — Temperate and Tropical Himalaya, from the Upper Gangetic plain, eastwards to Bhutan, Travancore and Tenasserim.
Simple herbs. Roots of elongated tubers. Leaves all radical, 4-10in., erect, finely acuminate, narrowly ensiform. Scape erect, with narrow, strict, elongate panicle 8-18in. Bracts large, sheathing, lower ones long, upper small, amplixicaul. Flowers small. Capsule ellipsoid, trigonous, ¼in., mucronate. Seeds in a triangular column, angled, straw-coloured, with a white, minutely reticulate and glandular epidermis, 3-6 — superposed in each cell. (J. D. Hooker).
Uses : — Said to have astringent and tonic properties, and considered to be hot and dry ; useful in headache, giddiness,